When the vehicle was pulled from the water, skeletal remains were found inside. One week later the remains were positively identified as belonging to Mr Moldt.

Mr Moldt's sunken car was spotted by a previous resident of the area after "doing a Google search", police said.

The man then contacted a current resident of Moon Bay Circle to tell them what he had seen. Using his personal drone, the current resident confirmed there was a car in the pond and contacted police.

A report by the Charley Project, an online database of cold cases in the US, said the "vehicle had plainly [been] visible on a Google Earth satellite photo of the area since 2007, but apparently no-one had noticed it until 2019".

Image copyrightGoogle Maps

Image copyrightGoogle Maps

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office told the BBC that Mr Moldt is presumed to have lost control of his vehicle and driven into the pond.

The force said that, during the initial investigation into his disappearance, there was "no evidence of that occurring" until recently, when a shift in the water made the car visible.

"You can't determine what happened that many years ago, what transpired," police spokeswoman Therese Barbera said.

"All we know is that he went missing off the face of the Earth, and now he's been discovered."

Ms Barbera said it was a neighbour who reported the sunken car and was not aware of reports that Google Maps had been used.